I wish I would have just treated myself to a vacation and been happy with my body."

Mlive file photo

JACKSON, MI – When she underwent an elective abdominal surgery less than five years ago, Kathie Pagan operated her own company and maintained a regular workout schedule, jogging at least two miles a day.

Now, her home care and medical staffing business is gone; she tried to run it as her health failed and it failed, too. She has frequent nightmares and struggles simply emptying the dishwasher.

Complications from the June 2009 surgery left her with long-term medical issues, both mental and physical, and she continues to receive treatment for what has been a large, gaping stomach wound that never entirely healed.

“I’ve just lost everything. That is all I can tell you. I lost my faith. I lost my dignity. I lost my independence,” Pagan said Friday, Feb. 21.

Late Tuesday afternoon, a jury awarded Pagan, 43, of Jackson $1.3 million in a medical malpractice case.

After a 10-day trial before Circuit Judge Thomas Wilson, jurors found Dr. Rouchdi Rifai had a duty to meet a standard of care and he breached that duty, causing Pagan’s injuries and physical and economic losses.

Jurors awarded her $500,000 in damage for pain, suffering, scarring and disfigurement and associated mental or emotional distress and $382,000 in loss of income. Further, they found she would have lost a total of $430,000 in income through 2017. They deliberated a little less than six hours, said Pagan’s lawyer, Bruce Inosencio.

Pagan is grateful the jurors understood the pain she lived the last few years, according to a statement from the Jackson office of Inosencio and lawyers Kristina Fisk and Angela Wetherby, and the verdict will help ensure financial stability for her and her family.

“I wouldn't necessarily call it a win, but I won,” Pagan said. No amount of money will restore her health. “I am messed up for the rest of my life for what he did to me.”

Rifai’s lawyer, Brett Bean of an East Lansing firm, said he and his client disagreed with the results. “This is a case we lost, in which, in my opinion, there was no medical malpractice.”

Through his office manager, Rifai said: “We feel the jury decision was unfair and the case will be taken to the Michigan State Court of Appeals.”

Bean said Rifai is a “quality surgeon and a quality human being” with a “nice reputation. The doctor continues to practice medicine through Birmingham Cosmetic Surgery and Vein Center, which has offices in Jackson, Port Huron and Southfield.

Bean called the verdict “excessive.” Inosencio called it justified.

It is uncommon in Jackson County for a jury to award a plaintiff more than $1 million, Inosencio said. “I think the facts of this case warranted that verdict.”

On June 4, 2009, Pagan underwent an "tummy tuck" or abdominoplasty, which included liposuction of the “abdominal flap,” at Rifai’s office in Jackson, according to her Circuit Court complaint.

Pagan said she was almost 40 years old. She was in her best shape and she was going to treat herself.

“I wish I would have just treated myself to a vacation and been happy with my body,” Pagan said Friday. “I would do anything to have my body back the way it was.”

There were problems with the surgery from the start, she said. She experienced dark-colored drainage, clots and painful burning sensations and continued to report issues, according to her complaint, first filed in 2011.

Rifai cleaned the wound area without anesthesia and repeatedly prescribed ointment and pain medication. He did not refer Pagan to a wound care specialist, as she requested multiple times.

By late July 2009, she complained of pain and the wound worsened, according to her lawsuit. The doctor deemed it infected, but still did not refer her to a specialist, the complaint states.

It was not until Pagan went to the Allegiance Health emergency room in August 2009, about eight weeks after the surgery, that she started to improve. She was sent to Allegiance’s wound care clinic, where it was discovered she had a staph infection, according to the lawsuit. She was admitted to the hospital for six days.

Because of the doctor's untimely diagnosis and treatment of Pagan's wound, the area became more and more infected and other symptoms and problems developed and persisted, Pagan and her lawyers said.

Rifai denied “any and all allegations of negligence.”

“It was (Pagan’s) choice to have this surgery and she was well aware of the potential complications,” Bean said.

On the jury form, jurors wrote “no” when asked if Pagan was negligent. “The jury did not find that was an issue,” Inosencio said.

The hospital wound care clinic discharged Pagan in 2010, the complaint states, but her treatment has not come to an end. She has a large scarred area, which sometimes “opens up,” Pagan said, and areas of deformed tissue. She sees infectious disease control doctors and takes medication.

“I am very limited with what I can do physically, and mentally for that matter,” she said.